Zimbabwe began by powering its border via solar, and now the country is using the renewable energy source to road tolls. The southern African country leads the world with the first installation of 22 solar-powered tollages in 2013 to help improve transportation services and infrastructure.
Each rooftop installation at each toll-gate is powered with 34 kWh systems, inverter technology, one 3200 Ah battery bank, and a 50-kVA back-up generator. A SolarWorld Africa distributor was awarded the contract in 2013 to install 750 kWh of solar power at the toll gates. Company managing director Gregor Kupper said, “Each remotely located site takes seven days to install. They are monitored with monitoring technology via the GSM network and are recorded as the first solar-powered toll-gates in the world.”
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